Apostle Kyton (CR +2)

Not all victims of a kyton’s torturous transformations perish from their captors’ exacting ministrations. Some creatures are transfigured into hybrids of their past selves and the dark malevolence of the kytons. These apostle kytons vary from being degenerate and submissive entities wholly subservient to the will of the kytons that massacred their sense of self, to utterly abominable creatures that take glee in their transformation, rising into leadership positions within kyton hierarchy. Creatures that lose themselves completely to the shadowbound corruption also sometimes become apostle kytons, as their souls are twisted to match the kytons’ amoral sensibilities. Those who willingly become apostle kytons tend to share a similar niche with ostiarius kytons, and the two sorts of kytons often collude together in cabals.

Other apostles assist interlocutors in their ministrations or even serve the mighty eremites directly as seekers of “perfect parts.”

Creating An Apostle Kyton

“Apostle kyton” is an acquired template that can be added to any living creature of the humanoid or monstrous humanoid type (referred to hereafter as the base creature).

Most apostle kytons were once humanoids. An apostle kyton uses the base creature’s statistics and abilities except as noted here.

Bleeding Touch (Su)

An apostle kyton that touches a creature deals 1 point of damage plus 1d6 points of bleed damage for every 10 Hit Dice of the kyton. If an apostle kyton attacks with natural or manufactured weapons, its weapons also deal this bleed damage.

Seductive Oration (Su)

An apostle kyton has a unique perspective due to her transition into her current form. As a full-round action that provokes attacks of opportunity, an apostle kyton can speak to the pleasures and wonders it experienced during its transformation. Any creature that listens to this speech for 1 continuous minute must succeed at a Will save (DC = 10 + 1/2 the apostle kyton’sHit Dice + the apostle kyton’sCharisma modifier) or take 1d6 points of Wisdom damage. This Wisdom damage increases by 1d6 for every 8 Hit Dice of the apostle kyton. A creature that succeeds at its save can’t be affected by that apostle kyton’s seductive oration ability for 24 hours.

After failing the save to resist the apostle kyton’s seductive oration, the target begins to question the definitions of morality, physicality, and life. Once per week, as long as the affected creature remains in communication with the apostle kyton, it must attempt a saving throw against seductive oration again or have its alignment shift one step toward lawful evil and take 1d6 additional points of Wisdom damage. The save DC increases by 1 per consecutive week of contact with the apostle kyton. A successful save prevents the alignment shift. A creature can’t take Wisdom damage from seductive oration more than once per week, even if it encounters multiple apostle kytons.

When the target’s alignment completely shifts to lawful evil (or if the target is lawful evil when first seduced), the target must immediately succeed at a Will save (with the same DC as seductive oration, including any increases from extended contact) or gain a greater madness.

If your campaign uses the sanity system, then instead of dealing Wisdom damage, seductive oration deals sanity damage equal to 1/2 the apostle kyton’s CR. If the target is turned lawful evil, the greater madness it gains is in addition to any madness it might gain from the sanity damage itself.

Creatures that are driven insane by an apostle kyton often eventually become broken souls, but some rare individuals gain the shadowbound corruption or even transform into apostle kytons themselves.

Unnerving Gaze (Su)

An apostle kyton’s unnerving gaze (see the kyton subtype) causes those who fail their saving throws to be fascinated by the apostle kyton. The apostle kyton’s seductive oration doesn’t break this fascination effect, but other attacks break the effect as normal.